The Best Baked Beans

Adapted from Ina Garten, via Amateur Gourmet

Lots of changes to this. As stated above, I sort of changed the preparation technique, but it worked out well for me so give it a try. I also left out the bacon, and used dried ginger instead of fresh since that was what I had on hand. Honestly though, from this combination of flavors only good things will happen, so don’t be worried.

1 lb dried red kidney beans

1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

6 whole black peppercorns

¾ cup real maple syrup

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup ketchup

1 tablespoon Chinese chili paste

1 tablespoon dried ginger

1 teaspoon salt

Soak the beans in water 8 hours or overnight. Drain the beans and then place in a dutch oven with the chopped onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 50 minutes or until the beans are tender. Drain the beans once again, reserving half of the liquid.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

In the pot, add in the remaining ingredients and the 1 ½ cups cooking liquid. Cover with a lid, and cook in the oven for 6-8 hours. Every two hours you should check and stir the beans and determine if you need more cooking liquid to keep them from drying out. 8 hours will get you the maximum flavor in the beans, but they’re still awesome after 6 hours, FYI.